Alternative Market Briefing

Aggregate wealth of high net worth individuals declined overall in 2011 due to market volatility, report says

Monday, June 25, 2012

Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva: The overall financial wealth of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) decreased slightly all around in 2011 (except for the Middle East). This general decline of 1.7% (to US$42tln) is the first since 2008, a year when HNWIs lost 19.5% of their wealth. Another shift that took place in 2011 was in the distribution of wealthy people, as indeed, Asia-Pacific became the largest HNWI region for the first time.

These are some of the findings of the 2012 World Wealth Report (WWR), just published by Capgemini, a global consultant, and RBC Wealth Management, one of the world’s top 10 largest wealth managers. The report offers insight into those with $1m or more to invest.

In 2011, the Asia-Pacific and North American regions levelled in terms of numbers of HNWIs and in terms of wealth. The number of HNWIs in Asia-Pacific expanded 1.6% to 3.37 million, making it the largest HNWI region for the first time, surpassing North America’s HNWI population of 3.35 million.

However, North America remains the largest region for HNWI wealth at $11.4tln compared to $10.7tln in Asia-Pacific.

George Lewis, Group Head at RBC Wealth Management said: "It is significant that for the first time this year there are now more high net worth individuals in Asia-Pacific than in any other region......................

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